Lazy Sunday...

Sunday was the 2010 Scotia Half Marathon, and althought I didn't have the pleasure of officially running it, I did get have the privilege of pacing a friend for the last half of the course. I wasn't a big fan of big crowds, but I was a fan of a really fast course, so hopefully I'll actually sign up next year.

Having never paced anyone (nor ran a half), I was just a tad nervous, especially since I haven't timed my runs since the marathon. Amelia's goal was 1:35, which meant a 4:30 minute per km. I kept that pace (mostly) during the first half of marathon and I am pretty sure I've gotten slightly faster since May, so I should be ok. I just need to make sure I get to the course in time and have my Garmin charged.

Although the prospect of cheering on course with Andrea and a cup of coffee was tempting, the plan was: get to UBC by 6:30am (race starts at 7), take some pictures of the start, dump the camera in the car, and run up East Mall and pick up the runners at Acadia and NW Marine Dr right before the big downhill.

Reality: I got to UBC by 6:45am, struggled to find parking for 15 minutes, and barely got to the start line to see that the front runners has already started. D'oh.

Ok, back up plan (I'm late for almost everything, so backup plans comes naturally): the first 3km is a loop before the runners head out onto NW Marine Dr, so hang around the start line, grab some pictures, get to the car, drive down to Spanish Bank to pick up the runners...

Below is evidence of the first part of the plan in action. I spotted quite a few runners I know...

Dario from the Broadway Running Room

Katherine Moore (by know, I mean I've been in a yoga class she teaches a couple of times at YYoga but before last week, I didn't know she runs a 2:47 marathon!). And she was so fast, I only got her back!

and of course the runners from the marathon clinic.

After the pictures and driving down to Blanca and Chancellor, I got my gear ready. Bottle, check. Course map and pacing band, check. Garmin... oh @#%@#$, I forgot my Garmin. Ha, pacing without a watch, nice. I have my iPhone with me, that'll have to do.

I got there a little ahead of time so I got a chance to slow jog the course backwards to find Amelia and Tom while chatting with the few spectators who were awesome enough to brave the rain at 7:50 on a Sunday morning. A couple of minutes before the 12km marker, I found them! Tom and Amelia were chatting away and both looked freshed as rain after 12km. They are going to kill this race.

Not having done any pacing whatsoever, I decided to employ the "stay slightly ahead and be a rabbit" strategy. Tom and Amelia seemed to be fine with this, and since I'm not a good conversationalist at the best of time, and certainly a couple of notches below that while running, this suited me just fine. Even without the Garmin, I've gotten pretty good at ball-parking my pace. Combine this with periodic checks on my phone and asking Tom and Amelia (who was wearing their Garmin), I can tell we were on pace.

The next 2km was a breeze, but having study the map, the next sections were probably going to be the hardest in the race. There was the climb up to 4th at Jericho, and a series of rolling hills along Pt Grey/Cornwall, and finally the Burrard Bridge.

Both Tom and Amelia handled the Jericho hill really well, especially after a long stretch of downhill for the last 3 km. Sometimes it's hard to switch gears. Tom got out a little ahead because he was a better climber, but Amelia would inevitable close up the gap on the downhill.

After we got through the excitement of seeing Andrea at Cornwall and Yew (apparently just cuz I wasn't running officially, I wasn't worth a picture! :P), I knew what was going through both Tom and Amelia's minds: the Burrard Bridge. I tried to remind them to that their reward lay on the other side of the bridge: straight downhill to the finish. I also tried a joke: "hey, at least we don't have to do kits point". Crickets. Tough crowd.

I also knew were were slightly off pace at the bridge, but I thought the climb was going to be tough enough mentally so I kept my mouth shut. We'll try to pick up the time on the downhill. Tom was ahead of me going across the bridge, while I kept a slight lead on Amelia to give her something to chase. The bridge was also tricky since everyone was slowing down and clumping up. Since I wasn't officially running, I tried to be as unobstrustive as possible. I just picked a line right by the curb and stuck to it.

After the bridge crested, I figure I'll let everyone's legs chill out a bit before making the final push. The plan was to pick up the pace right at the bridge turn off on Pacific, which gives us approximately 2km to the finish. I figured with the downhill combined with the smell of the finish, they would respond if they have anything left in their legs. And boy, did they! Especially Amelia who just bombed down Pacific at a way faster pace than I expected. Her kick got her past Tom and I had to speed up so she won't pass me! She kept that pace up for a full 1.5km, but we slowed down a little after the 20km marker. But then literally a minute later, Amelia ran by her mom and she got her groove back, enough for her push hard til the finish.

I had never planned to cross the finish line because this wasn't my race. But we were bunched in with quite a few runners, and with fences along the finish area, just running through seem like the least disruptive option. I tried to get along the sides to get out of people's way but in the process I think I messed up some people's race photos! Double d'oh!

The clock at the finished said 1:35:45, but I was hoping both Tom and Amelia started late so they'd still make 1:35. No matter what though, they ran a fantastic race. But with the legs feeling pretty good, I decided to double back along the course (on the side walk) to pick up the rest of the crowd if I could.

I spotted Alyson a couple of minutes into my jog, but she was practically at the finish already, so I decided to keep going to pick up Carolyn instead. At approximately the 20km mark, I found Carolyn. She had this serious, in the zone look on her face. Ok, I'm just going to say hi, keep my mouth shut, and run her in :)

She may think she didn't but she actually did pick up the pace near the end. She passed at least 10 runners along the way. And I've learned my lesson from 10 minutes ago! During the doubling back, I spotted a break in the fence around 100 yards before the finish line, so I ducked into that to prevent messing up another set of race photos.

All in all, it was fantastic morning. Top barely missed his 1:35 with a 1:35:04. Amelia finished with a 1:35:34 which is a top 10 in her age group and a NYC qualifying time. Boston and NYC QT in 2 months... wow. Alyson and Carolyn did an awesome 1:40:45 and 1:48:25 respectively, all PB's.

Mental Note: Next time you pace, arrange to have a dry shirt waiting for you at the finish so you don't have to beg for a kids size "Volunteer" shirt that makes you look like one of those guys wearing a shirt 2 sizes smaller than you should to show off the muscles you don't have.

After a bit of breakfast, I had the pleasure running back to pick up my car and getting my miles in for the long run Sunday. I was happy that I still had legs left and kept pretty much the same pace while I was pacing, if not faster. I just all the way to the anchor at Spanish Banks and then tried to double back along NW Marine Dr to find the same trail head that leads me to the car. But of course I got lost looking for the trail head and ended up doing an extra 3km or so around the trails of Pacific Spirit Park. I must say though, what beautiful trails to run. The trails feel like marshmallows after running on pavement for the last 20km. Going to make my way out there next weekend!

At least it fitted into my non-structure training plans of doing more miles but less days. As "Once a Runner" says, there is no secret, just more miles to run...

The rest of the Sunday was catching up on the World Cup games I missed. I was so looking forward to the England - Germany game. This just in: swiss cheese is filing a suit against John Terry, Matt Upson and the rest of the English central defense for trade mark infringement. It wasn't as competitive as one would have expected, but some beautiful counterattacking football by the Germans.

A nice long run, good company, and some world class football, I could think of worst Sundays...